Jewish belief sees claims of child abuse ignored, says leading rabbi
The Australian
Pia Akerman
5 February 2015
A PROMINENT ultra-Orthodox rabbi has warned that key Jewish concepts are being misused to prevent reports of child sexual abuse, amid claims that leaders within the Chabad community are still failing to confront cases they have known about for years.
Rabbi Moshe Gutnick yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that the historical code against mesirah (informing on a Jew to non-Jewish authorities) should never apply to criminal cases, but had been misused by those in power.
He described how a Jewish doctor who discovered injuries on an infant consistent with sexual abuse was threatened with mesirah after reporting it to police and child protection services.
“This was only a few years ago, with an infant,” said Rabbi Gutnick, a former president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia. “It is my belief that the threat of transgressing mesirah is used as a means with which to retain power and control.
“I believe it is an absolute religious obligation to report any allegation of child sexual abuse as quickly as possible to the appropriate authorities. To suggest that there is some religious obligation not to do so is an abomination.”
The royal commission is currently examining the response of the orthodox Chabad Yeshivah Centre and school in Melbourne, as well as its counterpart in Sydney, after the abuse committed by three convicted pedophiles became known, amid accusations of widespread cover-ups.
A man known by the pseudonym AVB, who was abused at Yeshiva College in Bondi and by a Yeshivah Melbourne staff member, told the commission he had been ostracised after emailing community members in 2011 about the need to co-operate with authorities.
He attached a Victoria Police request for assistance to the email, as well as a statement from the Rabbinical Council of Victoria saying mesirah did not apply to sexual abuse and there was a religious obligation to report such abuse to the authorities.
AVB told the commission that he later saw Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant — the current president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia — who told him he should not have sent the email.
AVB said current Chabad leaders had long known about the abuse and failed the victims.
“From the time the (Victoria Police) investigation started in 2011 until today,” he said.
“They label the victim as some kind of devil and (say) they should burn.”
He said former Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Danny Lamm had described to him the police investigation of former Yeshiva teacher David Kramer in 2011 as the “tip of the iceberg”.
Rabbi Kluwgant is scheduled to give evidence later in the hearings.
Rabbi Gutnick said he believed rabbis needed further training about the correct approach to child sexual abuse.
“There are people with crazy views in the broad community, there are people with crazy views among rabbis,” he said. “We have to stop all the rubbish that’s been going on.”
The hearing continues.
Originally published at The Australian.
Rabbi Moshe Gutnick yesterday told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that the historical code against mesirah (informing on a Jew to non-Jewish authorities) should never apply to criminal cases, but had been misused by those in power.
He described how a Jewish doctor who discovered injuries on an infant consistent with sexual abuse was threatened with mesirah after reporting it to police and child protection services.
“This was only a few years ago, with an infant,” said Rabbi Gutnick, a former president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia. “It is my belief that the threat of transgressing mesirah is used as a means with which to retain power and control.
“I believe it is an absolute religious obligation to report any allegation of child sexual abuse as quickly as possible to the appropriate authorities. To suggest that there is some religious obligation not to do so is an abomination.”
The royal commission is currently examining the response of the orthodox Chabad Yeshivah Centre and school in Melbourne, as well as its counterpart in Sydney, after the abuse committed by three convicted pedophiles became known, amid accusations of widespread cover-ups.
A man known by the pseudonym AVB, who was abused at Yeshiva College in Bondi and by a Yeshivah Melbourne staff member, told the commission he had been ostracised after emailing community members in 2011 about the need to co-operate with authorities.
He attached a Victoria Police request for assistance to the email, as well as a statement from the Rabbinical Council of Victoria saying mesirah did not apply to sexual abuse and there was a religious obligation to report such abuse to the authorities.
AVB told the commission that he later saw Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant — the current president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia — who told him he should not have sent the email.
AVB said current Chabad leaders had long known about the abuse and failed the victims.
“From the time the (Victoria Police) investigation started in 2011 until today,” he said.
“They label the victim as some kind of devil and (say) they should burn.”
He said former Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Danny Lamm had described to him the police investigation of former Yeshiva teacher David Kramer in 2011 as the “tip of the iceberg”.
Rabbi Kluwgant is scheduled to give evidence later in the hearings.
Rabbi Gutnick said he believed rabbis needed further training about the correct approach to child sexual abuse.
“There are people with crazy views in the broad community, there are people with crazy views among rabbis,” he said. “We have to stop all the rubbish that’s been going on.”
The hearing continues.
Originally published at The Australian.